The first two eps of The Spoils of Babylon are all over the place. Will Ferrell bookending each one as an Orson Welles-selling-wine-esque author is the immediate high point, with Kristen Wiig's histrionics coming in a close second.

If you liked the hyper-specific parody/homage of Casa De mi Padre and have a soft spot for lavish early '80s TV miniseries, then this may be for you.

The first two eps of The Spoils of Babylon are all over the place. Will Ferrell bookending each one as an Orson Welles-selling-wine-esque author is the immediate high point, with Kristen Wiig's histrionics coming in a close second.

I only saw the first episode but I have to say you have touched upon the two highlights (maybe the only two) in that episode as far as I'm concerned. Kristen Wiig and Will. They probably made more of the material than the material was worth.

Don't you think Tobey Maguire was a bit of a bizarre casting choice?

I'll give it another chance or two. It wasn't bad, just...underwhelming.

To be fair, Paul Rudd is an actual comic actor, so, wouldn't he crush most anyone with Maguire's background? This is me saying this without seeing an episode yet so I'm not sure what Maguire's character is all about.

To be fair, Paul Rudd is an actual comic actor, so, wouldn't he crush most anyone with Maguire's background? This is me saying this without seeing an episode yet so I'm not sure what Maguire's character is all about.

Maguire's all sorts of goofy in the Spider-Man flicks. He also hits good darkly comic notes in Wonder Boys. Maybe I'm not giving him a fair shake in that comparison, though there's something with his performance that doesn't jive for me.

Well considering my love of Tree of Life (which I would not describe as obtuse) and To The Wonder (which I'll grant you to an extent) we're clearly at odds there (and had this debate long ago), though to be fair his is an evocative two minute short, so I think you could cut him some slack compared with a feature.

TD's photography looks like the meeting between that short and Sin Nombre though.

Speaking of his feature work, has there been any news on Beasts of No Nation lately? Last year he said he got Idris Elba to take the lead and then nothing, hopefully that was enough to get it off the ground.

From the screenplay on up it was great. I love how much of it is left unsaid and the cast does an impeccable job of bringing all you need to know across anyway without the writer talking too much to the audience through exposition. Everyone who writes for CBS should be required to watch stuff like this.

I didn't even realize Michelle Monaghan and Clarke "Big Chief" Peters were in this.